


6 - Stranger

by Jillybeanjoy



Series: Venom [6]
Category: Venom (2018), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Dissociation, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Illness, Night Terrors, Nightmares, PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 03:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18864577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jillybeanjoy/pseuds/Jillybeanjoy
Summary: After waking up from a night terror Eddie doesn’t recognize the person in the mirror and Venom has to calm him down.





	6 - Stranger

Eddie woke from another night terror. He was in a glass container and it was filling up with water. He tried to get someone’s attention to let him out but he was completely alone. He tried to get Venom to help him break out but Venom was gone. Everyone was gone. He was abandoned to drown in one of the glass containment cylinders that Drake kept the symbiotes in. 

He decided to take a shower to calm himself down. After getting out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist Eddie stood dead in his tracks, and does a double take to the mirror. 

Venom rumbles in his chest, inquisitive and questioning. 

Eddie stared into the mirror but he didn’t see his reflection. He didn’t see Venom. Some stranger was looking back at him through his mirror. Confusion clouding his mind. 

“Venom are you seeing this?” Eddie got tentatively closer, and so did the stranger. He waved his hand and the stranger waved at the same time. 

**Seeing what Eddie?**

“Somethings wrong...” Wait is that him? Eddie pushed and pulled at his own face and watched the stranger do the same. But it was all _wrong._ That isn’t Eddies face in the mirror. That isn’t Eddie. “Something is _wrong”_

Venom was quiet as he flitted around Eddies body. **Eddie your body is completely functional. Everything is performing as it should be.**

“No,” Eddie closed his eyes and grabbed a fist full of hair. “Something is wrong! Something is different. I don’t look like that, that isn’t me in the mirror, I...” Eddie stopped and looked back at the reflection. “Did you do this?” He accused. 

**I haven’t done anything to change your appearance, Eddie.**

“No, no, no, no, no. You did this didn’t you?” He was yelling now. “You mess with my body, my organs, my head and you somehow made me look different.” He punched the mirror, breaking the glass and getting splinters in his hand “You did this!” 

A column of black shot out from Eddies back and pulled him with a slam against the wall. It covered his hands and feet and he was completely unable to move. “Get off me! Put me back! Put me back right now!” Eddie demanded. 

Without Eddie telling it to do so his jaw clamped shut. A tendril swam out of Eddies chest and Venom looked him in the eyes. 

**“Eddie, we haven’t done anything to change your appearance. You look exactly as you always have. Exactly as you did yesterday and the day before that. If you don’t calm down your heartbeat will go too fast and we’ll have to calm it down.”**

Eddie muffled against his jaw refusing to open. 

**If I let you down can we speak about this calmly, or do I have to help you calm down?**

Eddie glared at Venoms head coming out of his chest, but nodded. Venom released Eddie entirely, all the black tendrils retreating back inside him except the one holding Venoms head. Venom stared at him expectantly. 

**Are you unhappy about our arrangement? Do I need to find another host?”**

Eddie jumped slightly at the suggestion. “What? No.” Then as he realized what Venom just said dread seeped into his very soul. “No, Venom. You promised. You promised you wouldn’t leave again. You can’t just leave.” His breath was getting shorter and shallower. Tears started flooding his eyes. 

**“I won’t leave as long as I’m wanted”** venom said apprehensively. **“You’re the one who said I mess with your body, your organs, your head. Is that what you think, Eddie? I thought it was ours. I thought you were mine. I thought we were we”**

Adrenaline pumped through his veins. “Venom that wasn’t me in the mirror, it wasn’t you, it wasn’t us! It was someone else! We’re in danger, something is wrong, somethings going on!” 

**“Eddie there is no danger. We are here. We protect you. We keep you safe.”**

All blood left his face. “You were going to leave. You can’t leave. What if the stranger in the mirror comes after you? I can’t protect you if you leave!” Eddie was getting whip lash from his own train of thought. 

Venoms thus far blank expression broke for the first time since they woke up. He barked a laugh. **“You’ll protect me?”**

Eddie was still breathing heavily, but it was finally starting to slow. “I can’t lose you again.” 

**“Eddie, do you trust me?”** Venom asked, making unblinking eye contact. 

“Of course.” 

**“Now that you have calmed down, I want you to look in the mirror again.”**

Eddie swallowed, and walked over to the now broken mirror, trying to see his reflection in the pieces. Staring back at him was his and Venoms reflections. 

**“I would never do anything to hurt you, Eddie.”** Venom reminded him. 

Eddie stared at his reflection, his mind racing, “Yeah, I know buddy.” He said but his voice was monotone, emotionless. His every thought and emotion focused on one question; _what the fuck just happened?_

* * *

After sitting on the edge of his bed debating for a couple hours what would be a more suitable hour to call Dan Eddie finally gave in. 

“Hello?”

“Hey... Dan.” **Breathe, Eddie.** Eddie took a steadying breath, “You busy?” 

He could hear muffled sounds in the background, “Just getting ready for work, what do you need?” 

Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose. What should he say? What could he say? “So... even with Venom... gone... I... I think I had some kind of break down or something... I swear I saw something but I guess... it wasn’t... there?” Eddie sighed. That made no sense at all. He knew it. 

“You’re having hallucinations?” Dan asked. “Can you tell me what exactly it was that you saw or heard?” 

“Well, I looked into my mirror but it wasn’t my reflection... it was someone else’s. Like yeah the guy looked kind of like me, but it wasn’t me. And like the reflection didn’t do anything, it behaved like a reflection. But... it wasn’t _me”_ Eddie was talking faster than he should, but the more that he spoke the more nervous he got. It didn’t help that Venom was swimming around in his stomach. 

“Is your reflection back to normal now?” Dan asked. 

“Yeah...” 

“Okay, Eddie. I’m not a psychologist but it sounds like you were experiencing something more like dissociation than a hallucination. Either way it’s something I would talk to your therapist about, but I don’t think given your last lab work than it’s anything physical that we need to be worried about.” 

_Therapist?_ Oh shit, yeah. Eddie had kind of implied that he was “talking to someone” about his issues since the explosion. 

“Right. Yeah, yeah. Totally. I’ll do that.” Eddies face was turning red. 

“Eddie, you’re okay now, right?” Dan spoke slowly. 

“Yeah, of course.” Eddie blurted out a little too quickly. 

“It’s perfectly understandable for you to be having these issues after all you’ve been through. Would you like me to try upping your medication?” 

“No, no. I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Everything is fine. I’ll just talk to my... therapist.” He shouldn’t have paused before therapist. Why did he pause? 

“Okay, well, keep me updated then.” 

“Yeah, see you Thursday, Dan.” Eddie hung up and flung himself back on his bed with a groan. 

**You’re a mess.** Venom commented. 

Eddie threw a pillow over his own face and groaned into it. A tendril removed the pillow. **You’re my mess. But still a mess.** The pillow slammed back into his face. 

“Thanks V.” Eddie mumbled into the fabric before getting off his bed, and looking toward the bathroom where he could still see shards of broken mirror on the floor. “I know I am.”


End file.
